... When it comes policy on homosexual issues, the politically correct American Academy of Pediatrics toes the homosexual agenda line. And as I posted in reply 46:
professionals in one field, such as medicine, often rely on the "expertise" of "professionals" in other fields, such as psychology, when making policy or issuing statements to the general public.
That is indeed true as I will show later. However, beyond relying on the professional positions of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association, there has been an infiltration of pro-homosexual activists in the American Academy of Pediatrics, albeit not to the degree that both APA's have been infiltrated. This infiltration has led to AAP taking positions on homosexual parenting that are not based on science, but on political social agenda.
Since you expressed concern with the founding date and the basic tenents of the American College of Pediatricians, let's first look at who they are and why they decided to form their professional organization:
Pediatricians' Groups Differ On Attitudes Toward Homosexual Parenting : A new group is formed to counterbalance the AAP's social activism.
"... However, a new group--the American College of Pediatrics (sic), a Tennessee-based alternative organization headed by Dr. Joseph Zanga--has just responded by requesting that its fellow organization reverse its stand.
Zanga's group was formed by 100 dissenting members of the AAP. His organization disagrees with the AAP's point of view on gay parenting, as well as numerous other social issues.
In a recent interview with NARTH, Dr. Zanga said that the policy statement did not have the support of the AAP membership as a whole. In fact, the position paper--entitled "Co-Parent or Second Parent Adoption by Same-Sex Parents" -- was released to the public despite the objections of one-third of the committee which drafted it, he noted.
Zanga is still an active member of the larger AAP. In fact, he chairs its Bioethics Committee, which, he says, objected to the release of the position paper, citing what it felt were numerous flaws in the research and its foundation in "very weak science."
Because there was considerable opposition within AAP membership ranks to the pro-homosexual stance of the policy, Zanga says, the AAP commissioned a "technical report" to investigate its decision, authored by Boston pediatrician Ellen Perrin.
In that report, Perrin herself questioned the reliability of the studies used by her organization to measure the effects of same-sex couples raising either biological or adopted children, saying "The small and non-representative sample [of children raised by same-sex couples] studied," she said, "and the relatively young age of most of the children, suggest some reserve [concerning the policy statement]."
Although most ACP members retain their membership in the larger pediatrics group, Dr. Zanga said he and his fellow ACP members "do not want the media, the government, or the public to think that all pediatricians agree with the AAP's policies on controversial issues..."
The Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health is the division of AAP which issued the policy position paper on homosexual parenting. The position paper's technical report was written by Dr. Ellen Perrin, M.D. and Professor of Pediatrics at Tufts-New England Medical Center, and the Director of the Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics and the Center for Children with Special Needs.
Consider the following (excerpted) documentation, starting with the actual AAP position paper:
Coparent or Second-Parent Adoption by Same-Sex Parents
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS
PEDIATRICS Vol. 109 No. 2 February 2002, pp. 339-340
Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health"The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes that a considerable body of professional literature provides evidence that children with parents who are homosexual can have the same advantages and the same expectations for health, adjustment, and development as can children whose parents are heterosexual.1–9
On the basis of the acknowledged desirability that children have and maintain a continuing relationship with 2 loving and supportive parents, the Academy recommends that pediatricians do the following:
Be familiar with professional literature regarding gay and lesbian parents and their children.
Advocate for initiatives that establish permanency through coparent or second-parent adoption for children of same-sex partners through the judicial system, legislation, and community education..."
TESTIMONY OF PROFESSOR ELLEN PERRIN, MD, SUPPORTING H. 3677
"I am Dr. Ellen Perrin, Professor of Pediatrics at Tufts-New England Medical Center, and the Director of the Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics and the Center for Children with Special Needs. I speak to you today as a recognized expert in child development. One of my areas of special expertise is in the development and well-being of children whose parents are gay or lesbian.
I have reviewed hundreds of articles and books, and written and published a good deal myself about what happens to children whose parents are the same sex. I am considered to be the pediatrician most expert in the country on this topic.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a report last year that summarized three decades of research on the well-being of children raised by gay or lesbian parents. I was its primary author. As a result he AAP adopted a formal policy which stated that children who grow up with “gay or lesbian parents fare as well in emotional, cognitive, social and sexual functioning as do children whose parents are heterosexual..."
In the on-line Special Report article "More and more American children are growing up with same-sex parents" By Dan Gilgoff, U.S. News & World Report / USNews.com (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/040524/misc/24family_2.htm), Ellen Perrin, professor of pediatrics at the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts-New England Medical Center was quoted:
"If we could break down some of society's gender stereotypes, that would be a good thing."
Note that Ellen Perrin is also affiliated with the pro-homosexual American Psychological Association:
APA Journals: Families, Systems, & Health -- Editorial Staff:
... ADVISORY EDITORS...
Ellen Perrin Worcester, MA
Examining the Research Literature on Outcomes from Same-Sex Parenting: How sound is the American Academy of Pediatrics' statement endorsing same-sex parenting?
"The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced in early February, 2002 “a growing body of scientific literature demonstrates that children who grow up with 1 or 2 gay or lesbian parents fare as well in emotional, cognitive, social, and sexual functioning as do children whose parents are heterosexual.”1 Based on this, the AAP supports “legislative and legal efforts” to allow homosexuals to adopt their partner’s children.2
However, the AAP received strong reaction from its membership. An email memo from the lead author of the AAP’s Technical Report to select members of the Academy on the issue laments:
…the AAP has received more messages – almost all of them CRITICAL – from members about the recent Policy Statement on coparent adoption than it has EVER received on any other topic… This is a serious problem, as it means that it will become harder to continue the work we have been doing to use the AAP as a vehicle for positive change.3
1) Reasons for Caution within the AAP’s Own Report
There are a number of details in the AAP’s own Technical Report that raise serious questions about their conclusion that “children who grow up with 1 or 2 gay or lesbian parents fare as well as in emotional, cognitive, social, and sexual functioning as do children whose parents are heterosexual.”4
Ellen Perrin, author of the AAP’s Technical Report, was co-author of a 1994 study published in Pediatrics in Review entitled, “Children of Gay and Lesbian Parents.” The study explained, “Unfortunately, the research to date has limitations, including small sample size, non-random subject selection, narrow range of socioeconomic and racial background, and lack of long-term longitudinal follow-up.”5..."
Additional documentation:
Examining the Research on Homosexual Parenting
"The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced on Feb. 4, 2002, "a growing body of scientific literature demonstrates that children who grow up with one or two gay or lesbian parents fare as well in emotional, cognitive, social, and sexual functioning as do children whose parents are heterosexual."1 Based on this, the AAP states it supports "legislative and legal efforts" to allow homosexuals to adopt their partner's children.2
Many in the media have used this statement from the respected AAP as a discussion-closer on whether heterosexual parenting is good or bad. The AAP says the gender of parents doesn't matter, so the media figure it must not really matter, either. The members of the AAP know better..."
Note the interprofessional soceity cooperation and support in the following excerpt from the American Psychiatric Association:
Pediatricians Support Adoption By Gay Partners
"Noting the considerable body of professional literature to support its position, the American Academy of Pediatrics releases a statement that gay men and lesbians should be allowed to adopt their partner’s children.
The country’s largest organization of pediatricians has come out strongly in favor of allowing gay men and lesbians to adopt their partner’s children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a policy statement in the February issue of its journal Pediatrics "emphasizing that in light of data showing that children of gay and lesbian parents function just as well emotionally, cognitively, and socially as children of heterosexual parents, courts should stop using sexual orientation as grounds to deny members of same-sex couples the right to adopt their partner’s children...
Consistent With APA, AACAP
Fassler noted that the AAP’s policy statement is consistent with positions on same-sex issues already adopted by APA and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). The AACAP statement points out, "There is no evidence to suggest or support that parents with a gay, lesbian, or bisexual orientation are per se different from or deficient in parenting skills, child-centered concerns, and parent-child attachments" when compared with heterosexual parents. It also states that there are no outcome data showing that children raised by homosexual or bisexual parents show more instability or developmental dysfunction than peers raised by two heterosexual parents.
Fassler said that the Council on Children, Adolescents, and Their Families "welcomes this action by the AAP" and plans to add it to the agenda for its May meeting.
To help their recommendations become reality, the AAP urges pediatricians to "become familiar with professional literature regarding gay and lesbian parents and their children..."
Pediatrics Group Endorses Homosexual Adoption... But New Policy Places Children at Risk
On February 3rd, The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a policy statement endorsing adoption by same-sex couples, saying they can provide the same emotionally healthy family life as heterosexual parents. The academy is urging its 55,000 members to take an active role in supporting laws that allow gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals to adopt the children of the individuals with whom they cohabit.
But this new policy is based on politics, not science. Sadly, although AAP policy carries significant weight in our nation's courts, it is not in the best interests of children, whose interests the AAP claims to represent.
Studies demonstrate that there is, in fact, a difference between non-heterosexual and heterosexual parenting. Children raised by non-heterosexual parents are placed at risk. They are more apt to experience gender and sexual confusion; they are more apt to become promiscuous; they are at greater risk of losing a parent to AIDS, substance abuse or suicide. They suffer more depression and other emotional difficulties. They are also more likely to engage in same-sex behavior.
Furthermore, non-heterosexual couples are less stable than heterosexual couples in their relationships and they are more likely to separate. Research reveals that promiscuity is virtually the norm among male non-heterosexuals. Violence is substantially higher in non-heterosexual relationships. The list of risk factors continues.
Nature created male and female to be complementary to each other in myriad ways that enhance not only the couple's relationship, but the healthy and stable development of the children they produce. It is well known that fatherlessness is responsible for many of the ills of children in our society. There are few bodies of research where the evidence is so clear: children need both a mother and a father. Homes with a married mother and father are, all things considered, far better for raising emotionally stable children.
Perhaps the time has come for rational, reasonable people to insist that organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics either base their policies on science, or else label themselves as political organizations and relinquish their tax-exempt statuses.
And maybe it's also time that federal, state and local governments discontinue reliance on professional organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics when they need accurate, dispassionate, scientific information.
It's also time that the American people insist on truth, not politics, from all of our professional organizations.
Copyright © NARTH. All Rights Reserved.
Updated: 30 September 2002
No Basis: What the Studies Don't Tell Us About Same-Sex Parenting
For documentation of homosexual activism in both the APA's, see the following replies in scripter's "Homosexual Agenda: Categorical Index of Links (Revision 1.1)" thread:
American Psychological Association: 121, 240 and 242.
American Psychiatric Association: 46, 139, 213, 232, 237, 239, 241, 243, and 246.
BTTT
In October, 2003, Mark Pope was elected as president of the American Counseling Association (ACA), a professional organization with more than 50,000 counselors and therapists in the U.S. As the first openly gay president of the ACA, he has worked to advance gay and lesbian interests in the mental health profession. Pope, who currently works as a professor in the Division of Counseling & Family Therapy at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, is also a member of Division 44 of the American Psychiatric Association and member of the Section for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Awareness in Division 17 of the American Psychological Association.
In accepting his election as ACA president through the end of 2004, Pope noted:
"By a vote of the Board of directors of the American Psychiatric Association in 1973, we [gays] were removed from their 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.' They waved their magic wand and we were made 'sane' overnight. Do you understand the power that we, as mental health professionals, have to affect people's lives? We who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual were adjudged mentally ill because of the prejudices of the dominant culture. We who are in the mental health professions have responsibility for that. That is why my election to lead one of the largest mental health organizations in the world is so important. As the first openly gay man elected to such a position, I represent a final and total repudiation of that past."
In an interview in The Advocate magazine (12/9/2003), Pope observed that "When the health profession labeled gays and lesbians as sick, it was based on religious and political prejudices, not on data. There were no legitimate studies that made the case for homosexuality as a mental illness, and that's even clearer today."
When discussing reparative therapy with counselors, Pope says: "I explain the research and the policies the association has adopted. I explain that there is no evidence that conversion and reparative therapies work and that even if they did, what kind of message do they sent to young people?"
Pope also noted: "I come from the Native American background of two-spirited people, which allows us to go against the dominant sexual orientation and gender roles of the majority. That's something the rest of the culture needs to work toward."
He is author of "Crashing through the 'lavender ceiling,' in the leadership of the counseling profession," published in Deconstructing Heterosexism, by Sage Publications.
An excerpt from "When Activism Masquerades as Science: Potential Consequences of Recent APA Resolutions" by A. Dean Byrd, Ph. D., MBA, MPH
"There is a gay activist group that's very strong and very vocal and recognized by the American Psychiatric Association...there's nobody to give the other viewpoint...There may be a few people...but they don't talk" (Spitzer, 2004). "Recent actions by the American Psychological Association (APA) have raised questions about its credibility as a scientific organization -- particularly, the resolutions on Sexual Orientation and Marriage, and on Sexual Orientation, Parents, and Children. Under politically correct mantras of tolerance, diversity and civil rights, the leaders of one of America's most formidable mental health associations have taken an additional step toward disguising prejudices as clinical understandings. Following their lead, there may be negative consequences in the future for many state associations.
Activists' Interpretation of the Research Completely absent from the September issue of the Monitor on Psychology and with only the briefest of notes in the October Monitor, the resolutions on gay marriage and on parenting by gay partners were announced at the APA annual meeting this summer. Rhea Farberman notes in the October Monitor, there is no research that suggests that "same-sex couples should be denied marriage rights" and that a "review of the literature calls for joint and second-parent adoption rights for gay parents" (2004, p. 24)
APA insists that the resolutions are based on the recommendations of "researchers who study same-sex families and relationships" (Farberman, 2004, p. 24).
Consider those who were appointed to the committee: Armand Cerbone who was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2003 and was recognized for the distinguished service to the gay movement by the Society of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues; Beverly Green, editor of Psychological Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay Issues, Kristen Hancock who developed "Guidelines for Psychotherapy with Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Clients"; Lawrence A. Kurdek Editorial Board of Contemporary Perspectives on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Psychology and Candace A. McCullough-- whose partner, Sharon Duchesneau, was artificially inseminated from a deaf sperm donor to make it highly likely that their children would be born deaf because of their belief that deafness is not a medical condition but a cultural identity! (McElroy, 2002).
The committee members were hardly an unbiased group!
What's more alarming is that nowhere did the authors of the resolutions cite the incompleteness of the data, or mention the body of research that points clearly to the shortcomings of the studies.
For example, Lerner and Nagai (2000b), in their comprehensive review of the data on same-sex parenting concluded: "The claim has been made that homosexual parents raise children as effectively as married biological parents. A detailed analysis of the methodologies of the 49 studies, which are put forward to support this claim, shows that they suffer from severe methodological flaws. In addition to their methodological flaws none of the studies deals adequately with the problem of affirming the null hypothesis, of adequate sample size, and of spurious non-correlation" (p. 1).
Baumrind (1995) agrees. "Research findings to date are not definitive, however, because most of the studies are based on small samples of convenience, retrospective data, or self-report instruments subject to social desirability biases. Also few, if any, of the studies have explored theoretically relevant hypotheses concerning adolescent outcomes or used intensive observational and interview methods most likely to reveal possible problems such as identity diffusion or parent child enmeshment" (p. 134).
The APA Committee supported their resolution on homosexual parenting by citing the research of Golombok, Spencer and Rutter as well as Golombok and Tasker. Nowhere did they acknowledge the methodological flaws or the unreported differences. For example, Williams (2000), in his re-analysis of the data of Golomobok, Spencer, and Rutter (1983) and the Golomobok and Tasker (1996) research found a significant number of children to either have considered engaging in a homosexual relationship, or already engaged in a homosexual relationship. There were also significant, but left unreported, differences in self-esteem between children of homosexual and heterosexual parents, as well as significant but unreported differences in social and emotional difficulties experienced by children of homosexual parents.
Even the meta-analysis by Stacy and Biblarz (2001) was given only cursory attention. This meta-analysis repudiated over 20 years of research which had been said to show that there were no differences between children raised by homosexual and heterosexual parents. In contrast, Stacy and Biblarz found that lesbian mothers had a feminizing effect on their sons and a masculinizing effect on their daughters. They report: "...the adolescent and young adult girls raised by lesbian mothers appear to have been more sexually adventurous and less chaste...in other words, once again, children (especially girls) raised by lesbians appear to depart from traditional gender-based norms, while children raised by heterosexual mothers appear to conform to them" (p. 171).
Of particular concern was the Committee's reliance on the research of Charlotte Patterson whose studies were questioned and subsequently excluded from a Florida Court. The Court concluded:
"Dr. Patterson's impartiality also came into question when prior to trial, she refused to turn over to her own attorneys copies of documentation utilized by her in studies. This court ordered her to do so (both sides having stipulated to the Order), yet she unilaterally refused despite the continued efforts on the part of her attorneys to have her do so. Both sides stipulated that Dr. Patterson's conduct was a clear violation of this Court's order. Her attorneys requested that sanctions be limited to the exclusion of her personal studies at trial and this Court agreed to do so."Dr. Patterson testified as to her own lesbian status and the Respondent maintained that her research was possibly tainted by her alleged use of friends as subjects for her research. This potential was given more credence than it should have been by virtue of her unwillingness to provide the Respondent as well as the Petitioner, with the documents ordered to be produced" (1997, JUNE AMER, Petitioner v Floyd P. Johnson, p. 11)...
Science, Not Activism, Must Guide Resolutions and Policy Scientists are not immune from the political and cultural debates, but they must assure that any official declarations, resolutions or policies are anchored to the most extensive scientific research available. Kitcher (l985, p. 3) noted that "when scientific claims bear on matters of social policy, the standards of evidence and of self-criticism must be extremely high." APA must mandate that all statements or resolutions endorsed are subject to review and intense scrutiny, and that a balanced discussion is facilitated among all professionals and members.
Williams has noted that
"Social scientific research can provide useful information and evidence in support of important public policies, but it must be of the highest quality in its design, instrumentation, and conceptual rigor."At the same time, such empirical research can never provide ultimate justification for decisions and policies that are essentially moral and reflect our deepest values.
"In the final analysis, the justification must derive from our vision of the highest and most noble things of which we as cultures and individuals are capable. If this vision is worthy, we ought not be timid about confronting the issues and seeking support for the vision in the research area" (p. 355).
No scientific organization can provide any resolution or policy statement based on scientific research that is tainted, flawed and inconclusive without breaching the trust of the general public. For APA to retain its credibility as a scientific organization, science must be separated from activism.
Dr. Robert Perloff, former President of the American Psychological Association, criticized APA for pandering to special interests groups: "The APA is too politically correct...and too obeisant to special interests" (Murray, 2001, p. 20).
Indeed, the evidence is clear that in the case of the APA resolutions on homosexual marriage and parenting, APA has indeed catered to as small but vocal special-interest group and has allowed activism to masquerade as science..."
Where children have no voice: the "right" of adoption by homosexual partners
"SCIENTIFIC ACTIVISM" AT PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
Such confusion in the minds of children raised by homosexual partners should cause grave public concern. However, several professional health and counseling associations have published statements favoring the homosexual lifestyle and their adoption of children in an expression of what some have called "scientific activism."
The infiltration of the 'professional' medical and scientific associations by homosexual activists was ( and continues to be ) part of a well planned and well financed campaign to redefine homosexuality as normal. They started by infiltrating the American Psychiatric Association, with the goal removing homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
Make no mistake, the homosexual activists knew exactly what they were doing in the days leading up to the removal of homosexuality from the DSM. Once they had control of the American Psychiatric Association, all the other 'professional' organizations ( such as the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Mental Health Association, etc.) fell in line and now accept, and march to, the APA's pro-homosexual party line. Click here (then scroll down the page to "The American Academy of Pediatrics") for a list of other pro-homosexual 'professional' associations that toe each others' homosexual agenda lines.
Forcing the removal of homosexuality from the DSM was the homosexual community's greatest achievement. It permitted them to claim that "homosexuality is normal" and set the stage to present this "normalcy" to the general public via a well planned media campaign ( outlined in 'The Overhauling of Straight America' ), and to kids in the public schools via Kevin Jennings' GLSEN. Kids as young as kindergarten age are now being indoctrinated with "homosexuality is normal" propaganda.
It wasn't science, but rather pro-homosexual activism that was, and continues to be, the primary force behind policy changes and the politically correct statments made by the APA and the majority of the other "professional" medical and scientific organizations.
For documentation of homosexual activism in both the APA's and the AAP, see the following replies in scripter's "Homosexual Agenda: Categorical Index of Links (Revision 1.1)" thread:
American Psychological Association: 121, 240, 242, 300, 329, 331, 336, and 357.
American Psychiatric Association: 46, 139, 213, 232, 237, 239, 241, 243, 246, 300, 363, and 364.
American Academy of Pediatrics: 284
Pro-Homosexual Study Authored by Lesbian
(AgapePress) - Raising questions about a conflict of interests, a pro-family leader claims that the co-author of a 2002 study of the children of homosexual couples is not a researcher but a propagandist.
Joe Glover, president of the Family Policy Network in Virginia, said that he was puzzled by the work of University of Virginia professor Charlotte J. Patterson, who co-authored a study which claimed that the children of lesbian couples are as happy and well-adjusted as children living in traditional homes. In addition, the study recommended -- as steps toward "breaking down legal barriers to maintenance of parent-child relationships in families headed by gay and lesbian parents" -- repeal of all sodomy laws, legalization of same-sex "marriage" throughout the U.S., and legalization of adoption by same-sex couples as well as "second-parent adoptions" (adoption of the children of the other same-sex partner).
Such reforms, stated the report, "would extend to gay and lesbian parents and their children the legal protections that are now generally taken for granted by other families." In that report, titled "Children of Lesbian and Gay Parents: Research, Law and Policy," Patterson cited her own research extensively.
However, Glover did some research of his own, and discovered that Patterson is a lesbian in a relationship with a female partner, and the couple has three children between them. The pro-family advocate said Patterson has an obvious agenda and is using her title as a psychologist to put forth one-sided propaganda.
"She actually writes books on how lesbians can manipulate the law in order to have double adoption processes so they can create these lesbian so-called 'families,'" he said. Patterson, he added, is a radical homosexual activist "who has a clear agenda to redefine what a family is or should be."
In addition, according to an article in The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Virginia), Patterson admitted that the study did not deal one of the most controversial issues -- whether or not kids raised in same-sex households were more likely to become homosexual themselves.
Those in favor of legitimizing same-sex families frequently gloss over or completely ignore this area of debate. For example, in a panel discussion at Tufts University, Dr. Ellen Perrin, professor of pediatrics at the Tufts-New England Medical Center, said the matter was not even a valid question.
"One of those questions that always gets asked is, 'What are these kids [raised in same-sex families] going to be?' I'm bothered by that question," she said, adding that "it's a homophobic question, because it doesn't matter" if a child turns out to be homosexual.
Perrin was instrumental in getting the American Academy of Pediatrics to change its policy to favor same-sex families.
Growing Up with a Lesbian Mom Pt.1
"The American Academy of Pediatrics says that children of homosexual partners fare no worse than children of heterosexual married couples. And although talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell says she's a good parent, she herself has said that her adopted children would be better off with a mom and a dad. On top of that, the Family Research Institute of Colorado Springs reports that a third of the 57 children of homosexual parents they surveyed, had engaged in homosexuality. Regardless, no statistic can tell the real story like somone who has actually lived through the expericne of having grown up with a lesbian mother. Our guest today is one of those people, listen in as she tells her story."
Growing Up With a Lesbian Mother Pt.2
"Did you hear this? 95% of all problems children of homosexual parents face are attributed to the homosexual parents. That's according to a new study conducted by the Family Research Institute. Yet, the American Academy of Pediatrics and gay adoption advocates like Rosie O'Donnel, continue to try to convince the rest of us that kids fare just as well growing up in a home of a gay couple than they would in a traditional mother / father home. We talk to someone who knows first-hand, listen in!"
Expert: Many Promote Homosexual Parenting With Poor Reasons, Faulty Premise
"It's a biological given that homosexuals cannot reproduce; however, many are getting children by hiring surrogates. One professor at Marquette University says these manufactured families are just an effort to "normalize" homosexuality.
Dr. Christopher Wolfe is a professor of political science and an expert on homosexuality and American public life. He says some homosexual couples really do want to adopt or have children because they desire a family; but those who do, he contends, are in the minority.
Wolfe says indications of this leads many analysts to suspect what he believes to be true, "that the big push for same-sex parenting has much less to do with the desire of homosexuals, generally, for children than it does with a desire that they have to not be different -- to not be singled out and treated differently."
For most homosexuals, Wolfe contends, the desire to become parents is really about legitimizing their type of relationship and denying the abnormality of it, including the inability to produce children. "They want to have the same rights that everybody else in society has," he says.
The Marquette University professor says homosexual activists try to stack their arguments in favor of homosexual parenting by citing studies that claim there is no noticeable difference between the children of homosexual couples and heterosexual couples. However, he notes, much of the evidence they cite comes from people who were looking for a particular outcome.
On the other hand, Wolfe points out, "If you look at a number of different first-rate social science articles that have approached this subject -- one is by anti-gay-parenting authors Robert Lerner and Althea K. Nagai -- they analyze all these studies about same-sex parenting and show that all of those studies are really defective." In fact, the professor adds, two pro-homosexual-parenting researchers actually point out in their study that children of homosexual parents do turn out differently from children parented by a mother and a father.
Rejecting the assumption that no differences exist, Wolfe says the two researchers investigated and went on to conclude that children of homosexual parents are more likely to be depressed and more likely to display homosexual tendencies as they mature."